Flip goes Lake Waikaremoana bridge

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Flip goes Lake Waikaremoana bridge

Postby GPSGuided » Fri 09 Oct, 2015 11:29 am

The suspension bridge goes flip and onto its side. Surprised the walking party didn't make a single noise on a audio recording but just water bubbles after they entered the lake.

http://www.smh.com.au/world/dramatic-vi ... k4x6c.html
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Re: Flip goes Lake Waikaremoana bridge

Postby wayno » Fri 09 Oct, 2015 11:41 am

it was a one off failure in a chain link, all the DOC bridges have since been safety inspected and the flaw hasnt been found in any other bridges.

http://www.stuff.co.nz/dominion-post/ne ... oana-Track
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Re: Flip goes Lake Waikaremoana bridge

Postby GPSGuided » Fri 09 Oct, 2015 11:51 am

I assume there were no significant injuries over the incident.
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Re: Flip goes Lake Waikaremoana bridge

Postby wayno » Fri 09 Oct, 2015 11:52 am

GPSGuided wrote:I assume there were no significant injuries over the incident.


none
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Re: Flip goes Lake Waikaremoana bridge

Postby GPSGuided » Fri 09 Oct, 2015 3:44 pm

Fortunate.
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Re: Flip goes Lake Waikaremoana bridge

Postby wayno » Fri 09 Oct, 2015 3:47 pm

extremely, the stream wasnt that deep, theres comment it shouldnt have been deep enough to stop them from getting injured. probably soft mud at the bottom
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Re: Flip goes Lake Waikaremoana bridge

Postby wayno » Fri 09 Oct, 2015 4:00 pm

meanwhile on one american outdoors website the yanks are spinning out over the video... wondering about how dangerous nz bridges are...
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Re: Flip goes Lake Waikaremoana bridge

Postby icefest » Fri 09 Oct, 2015 5:11 pm

What's the role rule in nz regarding amount of people on a bridge at once? I know the remote Tassie ones are all one person.
Last edited by icefest on Fri 09 Oct, 2015 10:52 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Flip goes Lake Waikaremoana bridge

Postby wayno » Fri 09 Oct, 2015 5:19 pm

role?
DOC walking bridges are given varying ratings according to what they are designed and tested to withstand.
often anything from one to ten people. on the busier tracks its not uncommon for that limit to be ignored by some walkers.. although the bridges are under rated for their strength to allow a margin of error..
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Re: Flip goes Lake Waikaremoana bridge

Postby icefest » Fri 09 Oct, 2015 10:54 pm

Sorry, I meant to say rule.
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Re: Flip goes Lake Waikaremoana bridge

Postby 2leggedtahr » Sat 10 Oct, 2015 3:50 pm

Common sense says one at a time.
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Re: Flip goes Lake Waikaremoana bridge

Postby wayno » Sat 10 Oct, 2015 3:58 pm

those bridges are seriously over engineered for the rated no's stated. i can't recall another bridge failing in nz. this one had a one off flaw.
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Re: Flip goes Lake Waikaremoana bridge

Postby GPSGuided » Sat 10 Oct, 2015 4:52 pm

It looked to be a decently sized bridge and I'd expect it was rated to carry the weight of more than one. It's not one of those tiny skinny one person bridge we see elsewhere.
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Re: Flip goes Lake Waikaremoana bridge

Postby izogi » Sun 11 Oct, 2015 9:41 pm

GPSGuided wrote:Fortunate.


If it's an 8.5 metre fall into knee-deep water with three people escaping with only minor injuries (the fourth clung to the bridge), as is claimed on their blog (rough English translation), then they were extrodinarily lucky in my view.
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Re: Flip goes Lake Waikaremoana bridge

Postby GPSGuided » Mon 12 Oct, 2015 7:04 am

Even the video suggested the water was more than knee deep.


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Re: Flip goes Lake Waikaremoana bridge

Postby izogi » Mon 12 Oct, 2015 7:30 am

GPSGuided wrote:Even the video suggested the water was more than knee deep.


There's a contradiction because earlier reports stated they'd fallen into 2 metres of water. This sounds more likely to me, even though I'm sure the presence of knee-deep water probably means they were also extremely lucky they weren't on a different part of the bridge when it broke. They were lucky there was enough water. They were lucky they weren't over land at the time. They were lucky the river wasn't in flood. They were lucky they didn't sustain serious injuries from the bridge as they fell from it before being submerged. They were lucky the bridge didn't fall on top of them after they fell. The list goes on, and all of these scenarios could have resulted in serious injuries or deaths.

Note however that the camera was detached during the fall, so seeing it submerged doesn't necessarily mean the person wearing it was submerged. This one that's gone viral has been edited, but apparently the full version, also held as evidence by DOC, with complete coverage shows the guy going to collect his camera and then filming himself with a certain amount of shock. I haven't verified this personally, but if others want to judge or follow up then here's the reference to that assertion from a comment on the Federated Mountain Clubs' facebook page.

Part of the problem here, though, is also that New Zealand's media has shown virtually no interest in following any of this up and validating what it's told by DOC and Tuhoe. There was a flurry of interest when it first happened -- mostly adapting press releases and interviewing DOC and Tuhoe officials. But ultimately nobody died, there were no immediate shocking pictures, and sources dried up, especially when the tourists themselves didn't seem to be available whether through their own choice or because the way DOC and Tuhoe released the info made it hard to track them down. Even then, however, no media has even visited the location, let alone commissioned any independent engineering opinion for advice on DOC's assertions to challenge them where it might be appropriate. The bridge isn't located in suburban Auckland but it's also not exactly remote in the scheme of things (there's a road nearby), and aside from the facility itself being closed off with a sign, there's full legal public access.

This video popping up, and the accompayning French blog post, seems to have been the first independently sourced information about the incident at all, and even now the NZ media's interest remains at the sewer level of merely trying to be first in line to get its own rendition of a shocking video to be the one to go more viral than everyone else's.

That's a real shame because there's some potentially important stuff here, and from looking at the reaction to the video there's clearly a local interest in understanding how it was actually allowed to happen.
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